Vin Suprynowicz interview will continue as scheduled sometime tomorrow. Meantime, some tab clearing …
- The dangers of tasers. Better late than never, I guess, and the info about the post-tase brain fog is something to think about.
- Very impressive, resourceful, and brave little girl. Her father taught her well. It’s too bad her hell is just beginning.
- Speaking of a child’s (and a family’s) hell, the Washington Post has an unusually even-handed story about how that Idaho toddler shot his mother to death. It being a story about Idaho and guns, I note that the D.C.-ites (without apparent irony) assigned it to a foreign affairs correspondent. (H/T. LA)
- My first response to that widely reported claim that 2/3 of all cancers just come out of nowhere, sorry, complete coincidence, no way to prevent them, was okay, so the initial mutation might come out of nowhere, but what is your body equipped to do about it? I’m not the only one asking such questions.
- The liberation of aging.
- Cops try to bust man for smoking pot. Crowd forms a human shield to prevent them. (Via Wendy)
- Kevin Wilmeth resolves to continue to remain in “outrage fatigue recovery mode” in 2015. Good resolution, Kevin. 2014 was a rough one for too many people hereabouts.
The story of the lady shot by the two year old is tragic, absolutely. A few moments negligence is all it takes sometimes. Such negligence is only human, however, and we’ve all been there at times, even if we got away with it. And almost every mother has experienced the ability of a two year old to violate the laws of physics while they run faster than a locomotive and lift impossible weights to accomplish the satisfaction of their very natural curiosity.
But that is exactly why mothers take exaggerated precautions not to leave dangerous things within reach of these curious beings… and the possibilities of tragic outcomes with purse carry is a very good reason not to indulge in the convenience of it. She was not used to carrying that way, and simply forgot. Negligence yes, and very sad.
The twisted logic in the comments there are just so typical. These folks simply don’t exert themselves to think logically and accept the fact that life is risky, from every direction, and no amount of legislation will change that.
The Lady being shot was a horrible tragedy, I can not imagine what her family and son must be going through.
Off body carry with small children around might indicate the need for a firearm with multiple manual safeties.
Years ago when my daughter was just elementary age, I did a lot of handiman work from my old pickup truck. Daughter would travel with me and play in and around the truck while I was working outside. Truck was generally in sight, and good dog was also attached to it. Often it was inconvenient to carry a gun while doing some of that labor. I would simply leave it in the truck, holstered and put the magazine in my pocket. The model I carried has a magazine disconnect safety that worked. It was easy enough to drop the mag so the extra safety would engage or remove the magazine entirely leaving the round in the chamber. The pistol also had a conventional safety and long double action trigger. It was a solution that worked out ok for us.
Indeed, Matt… and it is so important for people to realize that what works for some will not work for someone else. Not to mention that we all simply have to deal with life as it is, not as we wish it to be. The old hindsight thing is just so easy to get wrapped up in.
One of the frustrating things about stories like this is the serious lack of information. We don’t know everything that happened, obviously, or what anyone was thinking. I seriously doubt a two year old could draw, lift, point and actually fire a gun in any normal fashion. The terrible chain of completely unlikely events that had to string together to produce this outcome is hard to even imagine.
Then foolish people say, “see, guns are bad,” and insist that eliminating guns will solve all the problems, eliminate all the risk… just mind bending.
I’d love to see something even better than guns invented and produced to facilitate self defense. But I’ll hang onto my ancient technology shooters in the meantime.
In a nation of 300+ million, there are going to be some people with an unusual way to die. About all that can be said.
Here is one I just ran into that just makes me shake my head:
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2015/01/02/no-crazy-is-not-a-capital-offense/
I guess it no longer makes sense to take stray animals in.
One extra point. When my son was small I decided to figure out what he could do with my carry gun (a 1911). I was following Ayoob’s recipe by the way – every parent should. Anyway I carefully unloaded it and asked him to squeeze the trigger with the hammer back. He could do that. I asked him to release the safety. He was strong enough for that, too. Then I asked him to rack the slide – no way in hell could he do that. I then proceeded to carry that gun with an empty chamber, despite no end of grief from people telling me it should be carried cocked and locked. I did it because I know I am imperfect and might set it down in a moment of inattention, and that my son is imperfect and the “gun-proof your kids” training might miss on him too. Also he had friends over who got who knows what kind of gun training.
When you have kids, you really should carry a gun hard to manipulate by them. Just one more way to keep them safe.